I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it - Voltaire

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Sunday, July 10, 2011

The Sacred Treasure Hunt

The
treasure is still being counted and the last estimates of the treasure trove
obtained from the vaults of the Padmanabhaswamy Temple are being pegged at around
100,000 crores – almost like a scene from Indiana Jones and The Raiders of the Lost Ark. There is one more unopened vault which the Supreme Court has yet not
permitted to open and so the final figure is anyone’s imagination but the
amount is a mind boggling figure by any stretch of imagination. Mind you, the figure
is not an official estimate but is hearsay but then who cares, the media has already
proclaimed the temple as the richest religious institution in the country.

The priceless items in the vaults include solid gold idols, a 10-foot
long gold chain, gold pots, bags of diamonds, hundreds of kilograms of gold
trinkets, Belgium diamonds and emeralds, hundreds of French, Dutch East India
Company and Roman gold coins(called Aureus), Roman silver coins, Venetian
ducats, drachmas, Vijayanagar period coins and so on. Other riches include, necklaces
made of gold coins, gold waist bands, anklets, three crowns studded with
diamonds, pearls and rubies, gold staff and plates.

The valuation is now being carried out basis a Supreme Court judgment which
stayed a ruling by the high court in Kerala ordering the state government to take
over the temple and its assets from the royal trust. The initial court petition
was brought by a local lawyer, who filed a case in the Kerala High
Court demanding the takeover of the temple, saying that the current controllers
were incapable of protecting the wealth of the temple because it did not have
its own security force.

According
to the temple staff, the 18th century ruler of Travancore, Marthanda Varma,
gifted his kingdom to the deity, Sree Padmanabhan, after which the royal family
has been ruling their subjects as “a servant of Sree Padmanabhan,” or Padmanabhadasan.
There is no clear historical agreement on the source of the treasure but it is
largely thought to have been in the temple for hundreds of years, having been
put there by traders, pilgrims and royals such as the maharajahs of Travancore,
and by offerings of Travancore kings, other royals and ordinary devotees to the
deity.

The
impoverished state of Kerala’s governmental coffers contrasts with the massive
treasures unearthed from the temple and so there is a sneaking (wishful)
temptation to demand that the temple wealth be given to the Government so that
the money is used for public welfare (so the pitch about the size of the funds
being equivalent to x% of the GDP or equal to the NREGS or PDS funding required).

With all
the various scams corroding the exchequer regularly, there is a clear deficit
of faith in the Government’s ability to act as the fund manager. It’s kind of
difficult to imagine the Govt as Robin hood by taking this money from the temple
and putting it to public use. When the reputation of the politician is in
shreds and the Government is seen as an entity that helps in hoarding black
money and does nothing about corruption, can you trust this wealth in the hands
of the wealth? The Govt needs to be perceived to be at least remotely honest
before people can repose their faith in it to do this. Would the same devotees be comfortable in contributing to a temple if teh money were to fill in government coffers?

But then
isn’t there is something like an ownership right that exists in this country?
If the media discovers that someone is mega rich, there are clamours all around
for the money to be used for the discerning public – always easy to be generous
when the cash flows from someone else’s pocket, I presume. Some historians have
suggested that a major chunk of the stored riches reached the kings in the form
of tax, gifts, as well as conquered wealth of conquered states and temples
stocked in the temple for safekeeping and so the money is not necessarily a
legitimate source of income. By that standard, you’d to have to admit that practically
every ancient monument would have to be razed – imagine confiscating the Taj
Mahal because Shah Jahan taxed the people heavily to flaunt his love for his wife.

The
valuation exercise being carried out in the temple vaults has thrown up gold assets
and artifacts and not hard cash. So, the actual funding can only happen if the
Government auctions all the treasure trove and mops up the money. I am no fan
of ancient relics but then there are enough museums in the country which can
merit this kind of approach and you cannot isolate Padmanabhaswamy temple on
this. Public deficit financing through the auction of ancient treasures has
never been a public policy and will never be one.

The best
way to treat this largess would have to hive it off into a museum on the lines
of a Louvre or the British Museum. The museum can be setup under the aegis of a
trust comprising the royal family and a couple of government nominees where the
role of the Govt will largely be in providing security and building the
infrastructure to make it a renowned tourist and cultural location.

The Kerala government is fearful of being drawn into an issue that has
the potential to be religiously divisive. The UDF which has a narrow majority of
two seats in an assembly of 140 seats is seen as a minority-friendly government.
Analysts believe that the Hindus largely voted for the LDF in the last state elections and so CM Oommen Chandy is wary of upsetting the religious balance especially
with a large section vocal section favouring the continuance of the former
royal family at the helm of affairs at the temple.

What could eventually happen is what normally happens as an everyday
political strategy in India – a committee will be formed to suggest what should
be done with the temple’s treasure trove. The news hype will die down and the committee
will amble along and finally present a report which probably some sort of
status quo (a bit like the anti-climax of the Telangana report). The treasure
will be sealed and thrown back into the vaults lock, stock and barrel and the
issue will come up once a while as and when the media rises out of its slumber.
And the poor Trivandrum citizen will find that living next to a wealthy lord
translates into being surrounded by armed security.

Far from insisting on status quo, the issue is an opportunity to revisit
a debate on the role of Government in the administration of religious institutions,
especially Hindu temples. Nehru’s vision of a secular India meant that in 1949,
the Hindu endowments and charitable trusts act was passed which gave control of
Hindu religious institutions to the government. So, you have Governments
heading trusts like the TTD and the Devaswom Board even though there is no
business for the state to get involved in religion and matters of faith. Even
here the intervention is selective - there are scores of temples that are lying
in a state of neglect but the Government is indifferent but the moment money
starts pouring in, there is direct and indirect intervention in its affairs.

It does not help that while Governments think twice before applying
similar solutions to Madrassas and Christian Missionaries, there is an urge to
clamp down on the religious institutions of the majority community. It is also
true that Hindu trusts have themselves not covered themselves in glory by their
unwillingness to be transparent and accountable to millions of stakeholders. Religious
institutions have to necessarily be more approachable than government offices and
ensure that regular audits are carried out and the financial statements are
open to scrutiny by anyone. It does not augur well for a temple to be treated as a haven for stacking black money and being opaque in its financial dealings, especially when millions look to it for guidance.

With the Courts deciding in favour of God as a legal entity in the Babri Masjid case, is there any reason why Gods and their offices need to be kept out
of the purview of RTI?

P.S. I am no temple goer or worshipper in any true sense. I am a Hindu
by birth and by birth only and my relationship to temple is purely cultural and
not religious. While I have visited the temple twice, personally, I believe
that it is ridiculous that it does not allow non-Hindus inside; an idea that I had railed against earlier.

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About Me

The word’s LAKSHYA – That’s what I am searching for in my life.I would like to take "The Road Not Taken" but remain a dreamer in words and conformist in actions. I have an opinion on most things happening around and intend to use this blog to express them.